Oh yeah, I also ordered ...

Lots of posts in quick succession lately, I'm working through a backlog! This post is in a way the second part to my Pulling Teeth post from the other day, as I ordered a couple of 7"s from A389 at the same time. I felt like PT deserved a post all to themselves for Funerary, so here's what else was in the box all the way from Baltimore. Now, to me the record mailer seemed to be bursting at the seams for a 12" and two 7"s, but more on that later...First out the box, Pulling Teeth split with Shin To Shin.

The Pulling Teeth side is an earlier recording of a track that would end up on Funerary. Slightly more rough round the edges but all the better for it, the Slayer channeling solo sounds even better. Pressed on a sort of camo green. This and everything else listed here I have not much clue on pressing amounts. Dom seems to keep this pretty secret most of the time.

Shin To Shin are probably better know as 'Aaron Melnick who used to play guitar in Integrity's new band'. Their song on here isn't exactly ground breaking but pretty good nonetheless. It doesn't sound 'Clevo' at all really which I suppose is what I was expecting. I was into it, the vocals have a ton of reverb on them which sound pretty cool.

Next up, Canadian Holy Terror band Withdrawal. I've had the download of this on my iPod for a while and it's steadily grown on me more and more so figured it was time to own something real. Pressed on grey. The artwork on this by Give Up.

That was all I ordered. With most orders from most labels, this is where the post would end. Regular readers might remember when I ordered 2 of the new 7"s from A389 a month or so ago that Dom threw in an extra free 7"? Well this time he went nuts.

Gray Ghost 7" 'Succubus' pressed on red.

 Never heard of these and I was blown away. Chaotic and incredibly heavy, guitar tone is so thick it sounds like its struggling to  get out of my speakers. The artwork ties in great with the vinyl colour and looks real nice.

Die Young 7" 'Loss' pressed on a kind of clear gold. Musically, these reminded me of Shai Hulud in a way. A serious, fairly technical metallic hardcore. The unexpected female backing vocals on the first track sounded amazing.

Curiously, Oak's latest 12" 'ii', sent without a sleeve.

No idea why, maybe there are some leftovers that arrived without a sleeve or something? Who knows. Oak play doom metal. It's so doom, and so slow, that in between drum hits and guitar strums you wonder if the song has actually stopped. Look at the song lengths -

I actually really liked this, you can phase out to it, and in its savage, bleak way its almost relaxing.

And finally, something called a CD. These are a new signing to A389, Full Of Hell and this was released a few weeks ago. It's really good. Frantic, caustic, really abrasive stuff.

Technology eh?

That's a ton of extra records, and I was blown away. I was already considering making sure that I get round to ordering everything A389 released from now. It always sounds brilliant, it always looks brilliant and it just seems like such a great label, one you can rely on and whose releases always float my boat. The fact that I really enjoyed all of these randomly picked bands from the label confirmed that decision.